--- description: A 10-year old girl in the the northeastern Nigerian city of Damaturu has left 16 people dead after carrying out a suicide bombing title: 10-Year-Old Suicide Bomber Kills 16 in Northern Nigeria image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Nigeria](/tag/nigeria/) ## Nigeria Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # A 10-Year-Old Girl Has Killed 16 People by Blowing Herself Up in Northeast Nigeria ## Video: Who Is The Leader Of Boko Haram? [Watch (HLS stream): Who Is The Leader Of Boko Haram?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/D9jtIA2G.m3u8) (2:13)  _Published 2014-05-08. Who Is The Leader Of Boko Haram?_ by [Joanna Plucinska](/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 27, 2015 5:45 AM CUT by [Joanna Plucinska](/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 27, 2015 5:45 AM CUT A 10-year old girl killed 16 people in a suicide bombing in the northeastern Nigeria city of Damaturu on Sunday. The girl detonated her explosives next to a crowded market as shoppers were being screened by security services. According to the BBC, around 50 people were injured. The city has already faced [two other suicide bombings](http://time.com/3962436/suicide-bombing-nigeria-ramadan/ "undefined") in July alone. Although Boko Haram hasn’t claimed responsibility for the attacks, the Islamist group has carried out a [string of similar bombings recently](http://time.com/3969052/gombe-nigeria-boko-haram-bombs/ "undefined"). The renewed violence comes after Nigerian forces successfully pushed the group back earlier this year in a [concerted offensive](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/20/us-nigeria-violence-town-idUSKBN0MF1QT20150320 "undefined"). Cameroon has also seen an uptick in violence; more than 60 have been left dead in a spate of recent Boko Haram–style suicide bombings. On Saturday, a suicide bomb killed at least 10 people in the north of the country close to the Nigerian border, the Associated Press [reports](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7735e77292654c6184ac18707d5a75a1/suicide-bomber-kills-least-10-northern-cameroon "undefined"). Boko Haram has promised to attack Cameroon because of its support of Nigeria’s fight against the jihadist group. [According](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/80add71bf46b4b39b3497d360addf123/authorities-order-mosques-closed-north-cameroon "undefined") to the AP, Cameroon has since closed many mosques in the north in an attempt to control the violence. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33671203 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3972686/boko-haram-nigeria-damaturu-suicide-bomb/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3972686/boko-haram-nigeria-damaturu-suicide-bomb/"},"headline":"A 10-Year-Old Girl Has Killed 16 People by Blowing Herself Up in Northeast Nigeria","datePublished":"2015-07-27T05:45:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:36:01.915Z","description":"The city has already faced two other suicide bombings in July alone","url":"https://time.com/3972686/boko-haram-nigeria-damaturu-suicide-bomb/","keywords":["Nigeria","Boko Haram","Cameroon"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joanna Plucinska","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/nigeria/","name":"Nigeria"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3972686/boko-haram-nigeria-damaturu-suicide-bomb/","name":"A 10-Year-Old Girl Has Killed 16 People by Blowing Herself Up in Northeast Nigeria"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Who Is The Leader Of Boko Haram?","description":"Who Is The Leader Of Boko Haram?","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/D9jtIA2G/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-05-08T14:49:42.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/D9jtIA2G.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3972686/boko-haram-nigeria-damaturu-suicide-bomb/","duration":"PT2M13S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3972686/boko-haram-nigeria-damaturu-suicide-bomb/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```